


Bonding

by Quiznak



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I'm Sorry, M/M, idek what this is, im klance trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7290187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quiznak/pseuds/Quiznak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance and Keith bond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bonding

Keith doesn't understand why they're trying to help a civilization which clear do not want their help. They had made it obvious when they started shooting at the castle when they paused above their planet. 

Allura had told the aliens that they weren't Galra. That they merely wanted to make peace with the civilization. She must've said something wrong because after a moment of cease fire, they start up again, harsher this time. 

They must've shot out an engine or whatever because multiple red warning signs appear above the dashboard, Coran nearly pulling out his hair as he frantically shouts that they're going down. 

So that's how they find themselves grounded. The power had gone completely out, something to do with the crystal being out of alignment. Coran babbles that he'd go fix it and disappears. 

"We can't get to our lions," Hunk whines. He shoots Allura a wide eyed expression filled with panic. "We're going to die!"

"We are not going to die, Hunk," Shiro says. He puts an calming hand on the yellow Paladin's shoulder and smiles. "Let's get out there and try to reason with them. Everyone agree?"

"But-But what if they zap us with their lasers!" Lance cries and Keith lets out an exasperated sigh. 

"We have shields, remember?"

"You must be careful. We know for certain that they do not want us here, but please, try to make it clear that we're not here to hurt them," Allura turns back to the controls. "I'll try to restart the ship from here."

"Alright, Paladin's. Let's go."

Pidge hurries to Shiro's side, along with Hunk, who shuffle nervously close together with Lance and Keith roll their eyes. 

"Babies," Keith mumbles.

"Yeah," Lance halfheartedly shrugs. "But, I mean, it is better to stick together, right?"

"Yeah. Right."

When Shiro pauses at the doors, four Paladin's line up behind him, nervously activating their shields as Shiro cuts a hole through the metal with his arm. 

"We're going to split up. We'll cover more ground. Pidge, Hunk, you're coming with me."

"Noo," Lance groans. "Why am I always paired with Keith?"

"Just come on," Keith grabs Lance and pulls him along, not letting go of his wrist until a safe distance away. "Keep your eyes peeled. We could be under attack any second now."

"Psh. You think I don't know that? Of course I know that," Lance rambles. "Let's kick some alien-"

"Lance!" Keith surges foreword and tackles Lance to the ground. The blue Paladin's cheeks immediately burn pink, a laser pierces the air where Lance had been standing. 

"Oh," Lance blinks. "Thanks."

"We have to take cover!" Keith shouts, scrambling to his feet, Lance following suit a second later. "C'mon!"

Lance narrows his eyes as he finds where Keith's idea of 'cover' is and sprints, because no, he will not let Keith win at this. He should be faster, right? He's taller, after all. 

They make it to the cover at the same time, both diving behind the wall of rock and Lance summons his gun. 

"I'll provide some cover," Lance closes an eye and tries to spot one of the aliens, but all he sees is an empty desert. "Um, dude? I don't see any-"

"Look out!" 

Apparently, the universe loves putting Lance in dangerous positions, only for Keith, his freaking knight with a mullet, to save him each time. 

An alien leaps down from the layout behind them and Keith slides against Lance, his back to his as he holds up his sword and stops the alien from cutting Lance down. 

Another shows up and Lance shoots him, momentarily distracted as he turns to tell Keith that he got one, but Keith's been kicked aside and Lance gets a sword to the chest. 

Keith screams as Lance grips the hilt, gasping as stumbles back, the alien watching as he falls to his knees silently. 

Without thinking, the red paladin pushes off the ground, tears already forming as he barrels into the alien, knocking it to the ground and harshly punches it in the face. 

It slacks underneath him, and the image of Keith being stabbed runs though his mind as he turns. He's hoping its not true. That something in the atmosphere was creating illusions. 

But no, Lance is on the ground, wheezing, blood pooling underneath him. Keith stumbles towards him, crashing to his knees. 

"Lance," He chokes out, hesitantly touching his face. His eyes are unnaturally wide and his complexion is a shade lighter from the shock. "Hey, i-it'll be alright, okay?"

Lance pressed his lips together grimly. "I-I can't.." The blue paladin blindly reaches for Keith's hand and grasps it tightly. The tears trek down his skin and land on Lance's cheek. "Y-You.. Keith, c-can you.." He coughs, loud, twice, both times a bit of blood dripping from his lips. "Hold m-me one last.. time..?"

Keith nods shakily, avoiding looking at the swords end sticking out of Lance's chest as he wraps an arm around his shoulders and the other rests on his waist, pulling him onto his legs and ignores the sword biting into his suit. 

Keith leans his head against Lances, unable to stop himself from shuddering violently when Lance's breath hiccups. 

"You're going to be fine-" Keith's voice breaks and he bites his lip hard. Too hard and he feels the skin tear. "I'll get you back to the ship and to the healing pods. You'll be good as new and-"

Lance groans, swallowing, blue eyes misty as he stares at Keith. Backing away slightly, the red paladin sees the small smile on Lance's crimson lips.

"What?" Keith sniffles and Lance tiredly blinks. Keith's not good with this. He's not good at comforting people. He's awkward. He doesn't have very good social skills and he's bad at getting along. "What're you looking at, you idiot?"

Lance laughs, but it's small and quiet, muffled. His eyes drift from Keith's to the grey sky, the color that's starting to seep into Lance's face. 

"M-My fami..ly," He whispers. Keith's suddenly angry at Lance, because that's what he's leaving behind. His family. It should've been Keith who got stabbed. He doesn't have anyone. No one would mourn him. "Th-The.. Paladin's. I need-" Lance's grip on Keith's biceps tightens. "Take care. O-Of them."

Keith nods, his head bobbing loosely. He'd do anything for Lance, he realizes. He likes Lance, he realizes, too. He wants to be with him, to kiss him. To hold him but not when Lance is dying and when Keith is a mess of emotions. 

"H-Hey," Keith manages a smile. "You'll make it out of this. So shut your quiznak, would you?"

Lance snorts, turning back to Keith and huffs, "I don't think y-you're using that.. word correctly."

"I-I like you," Keith suddenly blurts, because he is an idiot and doesn't know how to talk to people. "I mean, I- in a romantic way."

"Ye-ah," Lance exhales roughly. He doesn't want to die, because he's scared. But if he admits that to Keith he doesn't know how he'll react. "I like you too."

A deep rumbling sound makes Keith freeze, holding Lance closer to his chest. A pack of aliens jump down from the wall and holdout their guns. 

Keith tenses, curling his body as best as he can over Lances as they take aim. It's completely silent, he realizes, minutes later, after clutching Lance so close he could feel the end of the sword hitting his chest. 

"K-Keith.."

A sickening feeling churns in Keith's stomach as Lance goes still. He doesn't care if the aliens shoot him as he quickly sits up, hand pressing against Lance's pulse. 

A ripple of emotion claws inside of his chest as he doesn't feel it. Lance's hearts stopped beating and Keith can't breathe. 

His ears ring, his vision beginning to swim as he waits for the rise of fall of Lance's chest that'll never come. Keith sets Lance down on the ground, stifling a cry when the knife cuts his thigh. But Keith doesn't pay any mind to it as he brushes a piece of Lance's brown hair back into place. 

He's reminded of the aliens presence when one walks up to him. It reminds him a bit of Shay, the way it's skin blends in with its surroundings. It stops closely, weapon drawn, but Keith can't find the will to pick up his. 

It squints when Keith doesn't react. The creature holds up the gun, the dull part of the weapon slamming against the side of his head. 

He hits the ground, vision spotting. Keith then reaches out, able to hear the way he breathes heavily as he grabs for Lance's hand. 

Keith wishes they could've had more time. He wishes he could've made Lance smile like he had made him smile, and he almost grimaces at how cheesy that sounds. 

The alien stops when it sees Keith's movement. It's eyes bounce from Lance to Keith, then to the group behind it and back to them. 

Keith struggles to stay conscious, feeling his fingers and toes going numb as his body shuts down. 

The alien crouches down, reaching for Lance with its large hand and Keith feels anger burn in his gut. He pushes himself off the ground and slaps its hand away, his elbow giving out and he lands on Lance, wincing when the end of the sword slams into his sternum. 

"D-Don't.. _Touch him_ ," Keith seethes. He's shaking with anger, teeth barred. 

It blinks in what looks like surprise. The creature then forms its lips into a cracked smile. It moves faster than Keith can comprehend, it's finger touching his forehead lightly. 

Keith flinches as a zap emits from its finger. He groans, dropping his head and watches in terror as it touches Lance's head. A small bolt of light shoots from the tip of its finger and Lance twitches. 

Keith's eyes widen in confusion, meeting the aliens and it nods. He doesn't know why he's backed away from Lance, letting the alien grab the hilt of the sword. He clenches his jaw as it pulls the blade from Lance's chest with a sickening sound. Keith nearly vomits as blood splatters against Lance's armor. 

But then Lance's eyes fly open and his chest heaves and he coughs, like he's choking on broken glass and jolts up. He turns to Keith, eyes so blue and wide Keith doesn't bother stopping his tears as he dives at him. 

Keith sobs into Lance's neck, hysterically mumbling _you were dead I saw you you died in my arms_ and Lance holds him, stroking his stupid mullet. 

The alien doesn't say a word as it stands, but Lance feels like it had spoken to him in a way. It moves swiftly over the wall and the others follow without looking back.  
____

"I told you, I'm fine," Lance reassures the others for the hundredth time. Keith is close by, watching him like a hawk as he pulls at his jacket uncomfortably. 

"You died, Lance," Shiro say, like he almost doesn't believe it. But he does, because Lance had apparently accidentally contacted the others when he went down and they heard everything. The way Keith had cried and how they confessed and Lance taking his final breath. 

They would've been embarrassed if it wasn't for the fact that Lance had died and Keith was wailing in Lance's arms at the time when they had been found. 

But now they're both mostly okay, hours later. Lance had gotten away without a scratch, the knife wound miraculously gone. Keith's thighs had been healed, too. 

"I know, I know," Lance can still feel the way the blade had pieced his chest and he grips his shirt above the location. This sets everyone off and they're suddenly swarming Lance, checking his pulse and asking him if he can count to ten or how many fingers they're holding up. 

Lance swats their hands away, glaring as they all frown. 

"I am fine. Please, just give me some space-"

"Space?" Pidge raises her voice and Lance turns to him. Her face is as red as Keith's lion. "We cannot give you space, Lance! We all thought you were dead! And you _were_ dead! We all heard you die, and Keith, he _saw_ you die! So don't ask us to give you space! We need to know that you're alive and not-and not.."

"I know," Lance sighs. "I know, Pidge. And I'm sorry, okay? But I need some time to figure this out. I'm still confused about what happened myself."

"You're confused? About what happened?" Keith's voice is dangerously low as he steps up to Lance. He looks like he's about to pass out and his eyes are red, but he doesn't let that stop him. "Do I need to explain it to you?"

"No. I mean, yes. I-I mean," Lance let's out a breath. "How am I even alive? You're all telling me that I died, but I'm right here. I'm obviously not dead, unless I'm a ghost, which would be totally awesome but-"

"I don't know," Keith cuts him off before he can sound like an even bigger idiot than he already is. "The alien did something. It.. It zapped me, then zapped you, pulled the sword from your chest and then you were breathing again."

"Wait," Coran holds up his hand. "You said it zapped you two?"

"Well, yeah," Keith rubs his forehead. "And it hurt. Like a lot."

"Probably not as much as being stabbed in the chest," Lance makes a face as soon as the words leave his mouth. "I'm sorry, too soon."

Keith punches his arm. Hard. "I hate you, man."

"What? But dude! You totally confessed to me when you cradled me in your arms."

"Y-You did too!" Keith shoves Lance. 

"I know I did," Lance says, smirking, and reaches for Keith's hand. The instant their hands touch the team gasps. Lance and Keith jump as Coran makes a particularly loud 'ah ha' and bounced over to them. 

"You've bonded!" Coran exclaims. 

"Um, yeah..?"

"No, really. You two have been bonded to each other. Look, your faces!"

Keith and Lance simultaneously look at each other, eyes going wide as they take in the marks appearing on their foreheads. 

"We got.. tattoos?" Lance manages to say. "I thought that only happened in Vegas. And we're a long, long way from Vegas. I would know, because it's on earth and-"

"Lance," Coran tsk's. "This is no tattoo. This is a bonding mark."

"Bonding mark?" Keith let's go of Lance's hand and the mark slowly fades away. "Wait, so it only shows when we're touching?"

"Exactly. Now, being bonded to someone is extremely tricky. Once you're aware of your connection you start to-"

"Dude!" Keith suddenly hisses. "Are you seriously thinking that right now?"

"I can't help it," Lance replies smugly. "You look hot when you're sleep deprived."

"Share thoughts and-"

"Whoa," Lance grabs the back of his neck, ignoring the burning in his cheeks. "What was that feeling? It was like, so warm and fuzzy."

"...Emotions," Coran finishes. 

"Aww, Keith feels all warm and fuzzy for Lance," Hunk coos. Pidge and Shiro grin.

"I-I do not!" Keith grits out angrily, but his cheeks flush when he looks back at Lance. He touched his neck again. 

"Oh," Lance whistles. "You've got it bad for me, Keith."

**Author's Note:**

> Idek my dudes :,) find me on tumblr @quiznaks


End file.
